UMBC

Matea Pender for the third week in a row leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage.

Brittnie Hughes scored 14 points off the bench in the Retrievers win over Binghamton.

Sharri Rohde has seven blocks in six conference games this year.

Baltimore, Md. – The UMBC Women’s Basketball team (7-8, 2-4 America East) entertains America East Coaches’ Poll preseason favorite Maine (8-8, 4-2 AE) on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in RAC Arena.  The Retrievers picked up their 200^th career Division-I win last Saturday with 50-46 victory over Binghamton.  Fans can follow all the action as play-by-play broadcaster Troy Green will bring the action live on UMBCRetrievers.com Radio or follow action using the Retrievers live stats.

RETRIEVER UPDATE:  The Retrievers defeated Binghamton in their last outing by a final 60-56 as the game pitted two of the top conference scorers against one another in Matea Pender and Rachel Laws.  Both showed their ability early as Pender scored five of UMBC’s first seven points and Laws all six of Binghamton’s opening points.  The Retrievers, behind seven points from Pender and Heather Luttrell in the first half jumped out to a 24-14 halftime lead.  The Bearcats came back in the second half to take the lead at one point but two free throws by Brittnie Hughes with 19 seconds left gave UMBC their four-point win.  Pender finished with a game-high 19 points while Hughes off the bench scored 14 points and Luttrell finished with 10. 

MAINE UPDATE: The Black Bears entered the season as the preseason favorite to repeat as conference champions and are out to a 4-2 start in league play.  In their latest outing, the Black Bears topped Northeastern 68-65behind 17 points from Kim Corbitt and 16 from Bracey Barker and Missy Traversi.

Who’s Up Next:  The Retrievers host New Hampshire on Saturday, Jan 29 at 1 p.m. in UMBC RAC Arena.

All-time Series vs. Maine:  Meeting No. 3

Last Meeting:       Feb. 22, 2004 (Maine 60, UMBC 45)

First Meeting:      Jan. 24, 2004 (Maine 61, UMBC 35)

UMBC’s last win:                NA

Streak:  Maine has won two in a row

Series Record:     Maine leads the series 2-0 

QUICK HITS:

Against Maine

* UMBC and Maine will meet for the third time in their all-time history as the Black Bears last year swept the two-game season series with the Retrievers.  Last year’s meeting was the first meeting ever between the two programs as Maine owns the all-time series 2-0.

Match-up Notes

*  UMBC and Maine are two of the best shooting teams according to the America East Charts as both squads sport a 41.9 shooting percentage heading into the match-up.  Both team’s also rank tied in assist-to-turnover ratio with the Retrievers and Black Bears holding a 0.96 ratio.  

Retrievers Capture 200th D-I Win

* The UMBC Women’s Basketball program won their 200th game during their 19-year Division-I history.  The Retrievers last win over Binghamton put them at 200 career win since turning D-I at the start of the 1986-87 season.

Pender Top Three-Point Shooter In Nation For Third Week In A Row

* Matea Pender in the latest NCAA statistics which run thru games as of Jan. 24, 2005, leads the nation in three-point percentage at 56.9 percent.  It is the third week in a row this season that Pender has led the NCAA in three-point field goal percentage.  Pender heading into the week has made 37-of-65 from three-point land.  In games won this year Matea has converted 24 of her 37 total three-pointers on the year. 

Rohde Drops Career High

*  Sharri Rohde scored a career-high 18 points in UMBC’s latest outing against Albany, topping her old mark of 17 points set her freshman year against Loyola (Md.).  Rohde went 5-of-8 from the field and connected on 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.  Rohde over the last five is averaging 11.0 ppg with seven three-point baskets. 

Pender On Four-Game Double-Digit Streak

*  Matea Pender is on a four-game double-digit scoring streak after dropping 19 points in her latest outing.  The junior guard/forward over the last four games is averaging 16.0 ppg.

Pender Tallies’ 6th 20-point Performance of the Year

*  Matea Pender tallied her sixth 20-plus point performance of the year with 20 points and six rebounds against Northeastern.  Pender has nine double-digit performances on the year with six of them at least 20-points or more and one in which she tallied 30 points.

Double-Double

* Just two games after recording UMBC’s first double-double since Shalayna Johnson (1999-2003) scored 37 points and 10 rebounds against Quinnipiac on Mar. 1, 2003, Matea Pender recorded second one of the season against Albany with 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Pender finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds against Boston University two games prior.  Pender’s 12 rebounds is a career-high for her.

Block Party

* UMBC in their six conference games have 12 blocks as a team, seven from Sharri Rohde.  Rohde set a career-high four blocks against Boston U, topping her old career high of three set at Towson earlier this year. 

Pender’s lead

*  In UMBC’s seven wins this season Matea Pender is averaging 19.1 ppg, shooting 53.5 percent from the field (46-of-86) and 64.9 percent from three-point range (24-of-37).  In four of those six games Pender has scored 20 or more points.  In games lost Pender is averaging 11.9 ppg.

Hatten Returns To Starting Line-Up

* Freshman Morgan Hatten returned to the starting line-up against Binghamton for the first time since Dec. 7 with her start against Radford.  The Retrievers, who had a streak of 33 consecutive games with a freshman starting prior to not starting one on Dec. 9 at Lafayette.

Senior Tyecia Powell Out For Remainder Of Season

* Senior Tyecia Powell suffered a season ending knee injury at Albany and will miss the remainder of her senior year.  Powell, a 5-11 center, started all 19 conference games last year but has been limited in her action prior to her injury this season.

NEWS AND NOTES:

Pender Holds Top Slot on NCAA Charts...Matea Pender held her top slot on the NCAA national statistics chart for three-point field goal percentage (56.9 percent) as of games thru Jan. 24, 2005.  Pender also ranks 31st in treys per game at 2.6.  Pender has led the nation in three-point field goal percentage for three weeks straight. 

Retrievers Open Conference Home Slate With Win...UMBC won their first home conference game for the first time in six years with their win over BU, 59-51.  UMBC’s last conference win in their home opener prior to last Wednesday night was a 62-54 victory over UNC Asheville in 1998, UMBC’s last year in the Big South Conference. 

Pender joins 30-point night club...Matea Pender had a career night for UMBC at Stony Brook, scoring a career-high 30 points against the Seawolves on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and 6-of-8 shooting from three-point range.  Pender’s 30-points  rank tied for 11th on UMBC’s all-time single-game points scored chart.  The last time a UMBC player hit 30-points in a game was Shalayna Johnson on March 1, 2003 when she set the school record with 37 against Quinnipiac. 

Pender Named America East Co-Player of the Week For Second Time This Season...UMBC junior Matea Pender was named America East Co-Player of the Week for the week ending Dec. 12, 2004.  Pender had a stellar week for the Retrievers dropping double-digits in three-consecutive games to up her streak to six-straight double-digit performances and scored her third and fourth 20-plus point performances of the year. Pender on the week shot 58.3 percent from the floor (21-of-36) and an outstanding 72.2 percent from three-point range (13-of-18). Against Lafayette she tallied a career-high six made three-point baskets (6-of-8), netting 22-points, and followed that up going 5-of-6 from behind the arc two nights later against American as she led UMBC with 25-points. 

Retrievers Go With Pender…UMBC is following the lead of junior Matea Pender as the Retrievers are 7-4 in games Pender has scored double-digits.  In UMBC wins, Pender is averaging 19.1 ppg, shooting 53.5 percent (46-of-86) from the field and 64.9 percent (24-of-37) from three-point range.  Pender has six 20-point plus performances, topping last season’s one 20-point performance the entire year.  Courtney Doughman produced that performance with a 22-point effort against Albany.   

Retrievers Dial Long Distance…UMBC's 11 three-point baskets against Lafayette and their 11 versus Morgan State was three treys off their school record of 14 set by the Retrievers last year at Northeastern.  UMBC has hit double-digits in three-point field goals made on three occasions this season. 

Retrievers Showing Unselfish Play…UMBC as a team recorded 20 assists or more in four games this season, eclipsing their total amount of assists in any one game all of last year with 21 in each of the first two.  Against Lafayette UMBC set a season-high 23 assists as a team.   Brittnie Hughes (55 assists) and Sharri Rohde (51 assists) are the catalysts of the Retrievers offense.  UMBC's school record for team assists in a game is 27.  The Retrievers are averaging 15.67 assists per game, ranking first in the America East team statistics charts.  UMBC ranks tied for first in assist/turnover ratio in the AE charts at 0.96. 

20 Field Goals Made/20 Assists...UMBC against Navy recorded an assist on all 20 of their field goals made for a 100.0 percent assist to field goal percentage.  Brittnie Hughes led UMBC with seven assists in the game.  The NCAA record for assist to field goal’s made is 32 assists on 32 field goals set in 1986 by St. Louis against Loyola (Ill.).

Rookies Take A Seat...For the first time since the Retrievers’ NEC title game at the end of the 2002-03 season, a UMBC freshman did not record any playing time as UMBC against Stony Brook played all upper classmen the entire game.  The game broke a span of 38 games where a freshman had recorded playing time.     

Hughes Named to All-Tournament Team…Sophomore Brittnie Hughes was named to the UMBC Retriever Tip-Off Tournament All-Tournament team after finishing the opening weekend with 9.0 ppg and 6.0 apg.  Hughes also stole seven balls.  Hughes set a career-high for points in a game in the first half against Coppin State and went on to set her new mark at 12 points. 

UMBC Reaches Five Wins the Fastest in D-I Era…The Retrievers with their 67-49 win over American reached five wins the fastest in the Retrievers’ program Division-I history.  UMBC had four wins in their first six games this season entering that contested and reached five in their first seven games with the win.  The fastest UMBC had hit five wins prior to this season was in their 10th game of the 1994-95 and 1990-91 seasons. UMBC’s all-time fastest time was five wins in the first six games during the 1985-86 season.     

Home Sweet Home...The Retrievers for the first time in their 36 seasons have 15 home games as UMBC welcomes six non-conference opponents and all-nine America East foes to RAC Arena in 2004-05.  The Retrievers best home mark was a 10-0 record at RAC Arena in 1993-94.  UMBC's career home record is 185-143.

Hitting The Airwaves…With the newly launched umbcretrievers.com, the majority of home games and a few road contests will be broadcast live on the internet through www.umbcretrievers.com. Play-by-Play announcer Troy Green will bring the action on all contests via the web.  Umbcretrievers.com will also broadcast live stats for all men's and women's basketball home games.  In addition UMBC will play a home televised contest as part of the America East Television package when UMBC hosts Hartford on Feb. 26 at 12 p.m. at UMBC RAC Arena.  Currently the game is set to air on Metro TV NY and Fox Sports New England. 

RETRIEVERS ON AIR

UMBCretrievers.com Radio

Nov. 20      Coppin State                     4:00

Nov. 21      Mount St. Mary’s            4:00

Dec. 7         Radford                              7:00

Dec. 11       American                           7:00        

Dec. 18       Drexel                                 5:00

Dec. 28       at Towson                         7:00

Jan. 8          at Hartford                         12:00

Jan 12         Boston U.                          7:00

Jan 15         Northeastern                     7:00

Jan. 26        Maine                                 7:00

Jan. 29        New Hampshire                7:00

Feb. 5         Stony Brook                      7:00

Feb. 19       Albany                               7:00

Feb. 23       Vermont                             7:00

Feb. 26       Hartford                             12:00

Metro TV NY/Fox Sports Net

Feb. 26       Hartford                             12:00

Live Stats

All homes games and selected away contests.

Retrievers No Longer New Beast In The America East…The Retrievers are no longer the new kids on the block in the America East Conference as they open their second season in the mid-major conference.  Despite a full season in league play the Retrievers still received no love from their conference foes, being picked to finish 10th in the league for the second consecutive year.

Going Global…The Retrievers' 13-player roster contains three international players. 

Senior Anastasia Goncharova is from Russia junior Matea Pender is a native of Croatia and freshman Zuzana Kasanová hails from the Slovak Republic.  In addition to players from the around the world, the majority of UMBC's squad is from outside the state lines.  Tyecia Powell (Baltimore, Md.), Amanda Robinson (Lusby, Md.) and Morgan Hatten (Potomac, Md.) are the Retrievers' women's hoops only Maryland natives.

Kasanová To Redshirt Freshman Year...UMBC prior to the season lost freshman Zuzana Kasanová to an ACL tear to her knee.  Kasanová will red shirt this season and have all four years of eligibility  at the start of the 2005-06 season.

Retrievers Ink Three For 2005-06…UMBC head women's basketball coach Phil Stern announced the signings of three student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to attend UMBC for the 2005-06 academic year.  The list includes Melissa Book (Raleigh, N.C./Millbrook High School), Mackenzie Butler (Reno, Nev./Reno High School) and Suzanne Morris (Cleveland, Tenn./Walker Valley High School).